Rosie I hope you manage to abide by your rest day today! Would be great if you could email me what you did last week including pace you ran at for each run.

I would have probably advised you to skip the long run, given the illness, but you seem to have got away with it I cannot BELIEVE you've scheduled in three other marathons, post-Paris, in six weeks! If you train for Paris correctly and focus on quality instead of quantity I don't reckon you'll feel much like running another one a week later! But hopefully the pay off would be a PB.

Think we are all crazy in a funny sort of way!! Very gentle 6 miles to start the year off - now for the exercise routine.

Rosie - the Mar of North certainly starts/finish at the footy stadium but I think it is outside it rather than inside - they should publish the approved route in detail on their web site soon. It's a must for me as its my home town.

My previous Great Winter Run PB was 22:17 (2009), the last two years according to the interwebs I was slightly quicker if you look the results up, but 2010 and 2011 it was a sub 5K course as they modified it on the day due to the crazy snow on the high road round the park, so 22:17 is the 5K PB.

I rarely run 5k so that was the PB before bootcamp. Actually, thinking about it, the GWR is the only 5K I’ve done [note to self to get myself to a parkrun asap!]

Good question Spoons. I hadn’t actually thought about it. What should my target be? I quite often* run that course and usually get round in 25-27mins depending how cold/windy it is, or much of a hurry I’m in, but that’s without really trying hard for a time. The last occasion I tried to do a time trial that route was last summer and I think it was around 23min something for 5K, but that wasn't race conditions and was just a sunny evening in the park so involved lots of dodging of dogs/swans/cyclists. What do people think? 22min? I’m still feeling a little run down after the sepsis thing, though loads better than I was, so don’t want to be unrealistic but I do like a challenge and can get demotivated if it’s too easy.

*read several times a day

Gazelle – sounds great – PM me nearer the time - would be fab to say Hi at the start if nothing else. I suspect if I'm there you'll be miles ahead of me as I'll be knackered after Paris.

As for the marathon binge in April-May, yeah, I know it’s a wee bit mental. I booked them ages ago though, and am really focussed on the Paris thing now, so have banned myself from thinking about them seriously until after the 15th April. I’m hoping, as Sam says, I’ll have a PB from Paris, have actually run significantly harder than normally (I do get really frustrated at myself being able to run like normal the day after my marathons and repeat them a week later as I feel I haven’t pushed myself enough in the race, which is part of what I want to change), and be completely unable to run a marathon a week later. Paradoxically being unable to run a marathon for that reason would be a real result for me! We’ll see..

Sam, of course I'll email paces for last week through , though sadly mostly the pace was stationary at a point somewhere on the East side of the Royal Infirmary . Will probably do it after session this eve so then can report on that too.

An extremely early surprise from work meant this didn’t happen this morning, so I’m off to do it this tonight. Unfortunately due to the crazy wind here and the dark meaning fast work has added peril if you are as accident prone as me, it may be indoors on a treadmill.. Does that count?

I think 22 is a sound aim, and saying this having no idea how hard the course is or how busy. But you ducked under the 22 for the time trial (flat, even surface) so it sounds like a formidable but possible goal. I'd be interested to see how you fare at Cramond parkrun (flat) in a few weeks time with a bit more speed work/focused training under your belt.

Look forward to getting your pace info through for those runs you managed - and yes, the treadmill sure does count! I'm afraid I resorted to it myself today, having missed the 30 minute window of opportunity when the wind and rain stopped this afternoon!

I think 22 is a sound aim, and saying this having no idea how hard the course is or how busy. But you ducked under the 22 for the time trial (flat, even surface) so it sounds like a formidable but possible goal. I'd be interested to see how you fare at Cramond parkrun (flat) in a few weeks time with a bit more speed work/focused training under your belt.

Look forward to getting your pace info through for those runs you managed - and yes, the treadmill sure does count! I'm afraid I resorted to it myself today, having missed the 30 minute window of opportunity when the wind and rain stopped this afternoon!

Great, 22mins it is! Though if the wind on Saturday is anything like it was when Dug and I were at the top of Arthur's Seat a couple of hours ago I'll be glad to get round in under 30! (general note, admittedly climbing large hills in this wind is inadvisable, and in our defence we weren't going to go that route tonight as it was so bad, but he was led astray by a beautiful spaniel carrying a frisbee). Am definitely going to schedule in a parkrun. Am thinking about the following week - week three of the plan (Saturday 14th?). I have a 4M run that day according to the schedule so could I do it as part of that? Or as well as?

Hehe, I know what you mean about that 30min window today!. It was slightly shorter than that here I think, though cruelly I was trapped by a window for it's duration so got to witness the sunshine and easing up of the crazy wind while totally unable to make use of it.

Right, I've written down the paces for tonight in km (the gym I'm going to only has km readings on the treadmills and I'm not good at doing lots of conversions while running), I just need to extract my keys from Dug* and I'm off..

*he has taken them hostage in an opportunistic [I'm hoping it's opportunistic not planned anyway!] attempt to barter for extra biscuits and is currently mock-guarding them in his bed

Can really recommend the whole Park Run system. I finally did my first two (New Years Eve and New Years Day) and reckon they not only give you a fast run ...but motivation and feedback on progress especially if you are doing the same course time & time again.

Funny but after years of almost only hill running, I am enjoying how accessible the tarmac is rather than having a drive at either end of a run.

Hey Emma. Hope you do get to a parkrun, would be good to compare notes. I've pencilled one in for Saturday 14th Jan, but realise it's probably a lot easier for me to find a free Saturday morning than for you to. You're an inspiration finding time to run with your commitments. And woo!, my mental health only *slightly* questionable. I am loving deserving a modifier before a statement of my mentalism. I shall use this as evidence of my relative sanity.

*thanks to the owners of my gym for conveniently building it exactly 1M from my house, perfect for tonight's session!

Seemed to go fine. Really enjoyed the more speedy bits, though possibly enjoyed it too much as on the way home was feeling all distractedly happy and managed to run right past a friend who is a paramedic who was stopped by the shop near my house. Apparently he was standing on the pavement, in his uniform, right by the ambulance, so I did miss a few clues that it might be him. I just aimlessly beamed at him and swerved round him instead. Ooops..

Had a fell walk with a loads of friends on Monday and met a lady who joined up with us friend of a friend from Edinburgh into running she lives near Holyrood Park, how strange is that. Small world, we ended up talking for an hour or so on what we had got up to, turns out she was big in bodybuilding in 1999 and represented Scotland!!! Then she became a runner!!

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